square dance

square dance
1. a dance by a set of four couples arranged in a square or in some set form.
2. hoedown (def. 1).
[1865-70]

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Dance for sets of four couples standing in square formation.

The most popular type of U.S. folk dance, it derived from the quadrille and was originally called a square dance to distinguish it from the contra, or longways, dance (for a double line of couples) and the round dance (for a circle of couples). The U.S. square dance progresses through specific patterns called or sung out to the dancers by a caller and accompanied by lively music played on instruments such as fiddle, banjo, accordion, guitar, and piano.

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      dance for four couples (or groups of four couples) standing in square formation, the most popular and widely known type of folk dance in the United States. It was called the square dance to distinguish it from comparable dances called the contra, or longways dance, for a double file of couples, and from the round dance for a circle of couples. Historians trace the origin of the square dance to both the Kentucky running set of English derivation and to the cotillon (cotillion), a stately French dance in square formation, popular at the court of Louis XV but supplanted later by the quadrille (also a “square” dance).

      The Americanized quadrille, or square dance, begins and progresses rapidly in well-ordered patterns within the framework of a relatively compact square, sets of four couples forming its four sides. To the traditional accompaniment of accordion, banjo, fiddle, and guitar and to prompting, patter, and singing calls made by a “caller,” couples perform a variety of movements, all based on a smooth, “shuffling” walk. (Stepwork is less important than the cooperative movement.) Formerly danced in five main figures, the contemporary square dance is composed of three.

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Universalium. 2010.

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